EAT YOUR YARD: Chickweed

From Theresa:

Chickweed is one of my favorite weeds. Apparently most people don't want it growing in their yards, but they must not know they are missing out on an amazing Spring treat. It has a flavor I crave, so my body must realize that it has a lot of nutrition to give me after a long Winter. I first tasted it when I was in my twenties, during a workshop I took on wild edibles, and I didn't forgot how wonderful it was during the intervening 15 years until I had land on which to grow my own food. After we moved into our tiny homestead and started digging up the lawn, it didn't take long for it to volunteer in my yard. I was very satisfied.

How to Grow Chickweed:

Common chickweed (Stellarismedia, ​my field guides also list other edible species) is a weed introduced from Europe.

If you are lucky, it will likely start growing in your yard in some bare, moist soil, what the field guides call "waste places."

Being a useful weed, it can grow in lots of places. In our yard, it can be found in both dry and wet areas, and in both full sun and part shade.

Chickweed spreads itself easily, so I look around each Spring to see what other areas it has decided to take over.

It is a good looking ground cover, growing to about a foot tall, although it becomes legging and sprawling during the Summer, so may not appeal to gardeners with a tidier esthetic.

It has tiny, white flowers.

If it doesn't volunteer in your yard, you can also purchase seeds to grow it yourself. Our main patch died back one year, so I bought some seeds to revitalize it from Strictly Medicinal Herbs.

The photo below shows the chickweed patch that grew behind our pond (in front of and to the left of the blue colander), in the disturbed soil on the path where I unsuccessfully tried to grow clover.

How to Harvest Chickweed:

1. The tender leaves and stems of chickweed are very tasty. It is easiest to harvest them in early Spring (late April in our area), while the plant is still short.​

2. You can harvest chickweed with a pair of scissors. You can cut off the top of an entire patch, and it will grow back.​

3. Pick a lot- you'll want more.

5. In the photo to the right, the chickweed on the left in my hand is starting its growth spurt. It's still edible, but the one on the right is just perfect for eating.

4. Once the chickweed gets older, it becomes "leggy." You start to see 1-2" stems between the leaf clusters. The leaves are still edible and tasty at this point, but the stems can get tough, so you have to pull the leaves off the stems to eat them. This is a lot of work, so I usually only eat the younger chickweed.

How to Eat Chickweed:

I prefer chickweed raw, and in large quantity. I pick some and eat it whenever I walk by.

You can add it raw to salads or use it as garnish on cooked food, like sprinkled over buttery potatoes. It tastes so great on its own, though, that I strongly urge you to not let it get buried under other flavors.

In that long ago foraging class where I first tasted chickweed, the instructor boiled some water and poured a little over a stalk of chickweed he'd put in small paper cups. Each student got a cup and we ate the chickweed immediately, before it was overcooked and the flavor and nutrients were lost.

Now that I am remembering this, I realize that maybe the chickweed I ate then was leggy, so now I'll have to try putting the older chickweed in boiling water and see how long into the Summer that keeps the stems edible.

One "Cooked" Chickweed recipe:

If you don't want to eat your chickweed alone, here's a recipe I developed that still lets you enjoy its great raw taste:

1. Add 1 cup bulghur to 2 cups water, cover, and boil until the water disappears and the bulghur is fluffy and chewy.

3. Cover the vegetables and cook, stirring occasionally, until the carrots are soft, about 20 minutes.

4. If the veggies start to stick, add a little water to cover the bottom of the pan.

5. Chop cheese into chunks. Here I've chopped a bacon gouda on the left and a cheddar on the right. Use whatever cheese you think will taste good or whatever you have on hand.

6. When the bulghur is done cooking, stir it a bit, then add the cheese while it's still warm. Don't stir in the cheese chunks yet, though. Add the lid and let the chunks melt a bit.​

7. When the carrots are done, stir the vegetables into the bulghur and cheese...

8. Add chopped chives if you have them...​

9. Add the raw chickweed...

10. ...and lots of grated pepper.

11. Enjoy! It's best if you have enough chickweed to taste some in every bite.

Why is Chickweed so Good for Us?

Chickweed is also used medicinally. If you'd like to learn more about this, the best reference I've found is Susan S. Weed's book, Wise Woman Herbal: Healing Wise, which also has chapters devoted to many other nutritional weeds, such as nettle, burdock, and wild voilets.

Susan describes chickweed as a nourishing, strengthening food, because it contains so many vitamins and minerals, such as Vitamin A and C, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and zinc.

Her book includes many chickweed recipes, such as chickweed pesto and chickweed tabouli. She also believes it's most beneficial when eated raw.